PHIL 330 - Philosophy of Language

What is language? How is communication possible? How does language relate to the world? How does it relate to the mind? Should our view of language influence our view of the world? Do speakers of different languages think and behave differently? What is the relationship between language and culture? What is meaning? Is meaning always a matter of interpretation, or do some things have meaning independently of interpretation? Is conceptual thought prior to language? Could there be facts about meaning we could only discover by looking in someone’s brain? How does the proper name ‘Angelina Jolie’ come to designate the person it does, instead of designating someone else or no one at all? What is truth? How do metaphors work?